Abrasive grits or grains have long been used in abrasive articles, including coated abrasives, bonded abrasives, and non-woven abrasives. Abrasive grits traditionally have comprised fine particles of a hard substance, such as alumina, alumina zirconia, diamond, cubic boron nitride, and sol-gel-derived abrasive particles. Criteria used in evaluating the effectiveness of a particular abrasive particle used for a particular abrading application typically include abrading life, rate of cut, substrate surface finish, grinding efficiency, and product cost.
Such traditional grits are effective in the removal of material from a workpiece for a short period of time, however many grits become smoothed or polished over time such that little additional material is removed. When a substantial number of the abrasive grits become smoothed, the abrasive article typically becomes less effective in abrading the workpiece. Moreover, as more and more of the abrasive grits become smoothed over time, the cut rate of the abrading article may become inconsistent.
To address the inconsistent cut rates over time, abrasive agglomerates have been developed. Abrasive agglomerates have a plurality of abrasive grits held together with an organic or inorganic binder. The binder is usually more friable than the abrasive grits so that the binder fractures to release used-up abrasive grits before they become smoothed or polished, exposing fresh abrasive grits to the workpiece.